It turns out, you go over to the Dark Side sloooowly…

[FragileThunder]

A few months ago my long suffering “music laptop” decided to retire, no longer willing to run even the most basic DAW. In switching to another machine, I ended up with some unnecessary gear. Upon moving said gear, I found myself with some cash burning a hole in my gig bag. So after fueling up my truck and buying myself lunch, I ended up with a Line 6 M5. Now I love me some pedals, hate menu screens and am old enough that reading the text on a small screen 6 feet away from my face is almost as hard as bending down to get a better look. So my interest in any of these modeling type devices has never been more than passing at best. But I really wanted a Ring Modulator, and wasn’t thrilled with the options/prices. So what the heck says I.

Dammit…I freaking love the thing. With the presets named in ALL CAPS, it’s legible enough. The sounds are beyond reasonable, they’re damn good, and in many cases I matched the models up against pedals I actually have in my rig and they held up.

I never though I’d become one of “those” players, but I’ve seriously begun thinking about replacing my rig with a Helix or something similar.

And you may ask yourself…how did I get here?

 

[bodia]

Been there!

 

[Jimi D]

If you like the M5, you’ll lose your mind for the HX Stomp…

As an aside, I gigged an M9 on my board for nearly 10 years… it was a great do-it-all pedal for anything I needed but didn’t have the space for, and I used it all the time, at every gig. Fantastic unit.

 

[Greywolf]

Always Old and Analog ..resistance isn't futile it goes with capacitance to make beautiful tone! TUBE BE for ME !

 

[spawnofthesith]

M5s are fun

I have an HX One now, but I use a bunch of the old legacy FX from the m5 on there all the time. I don;t have a problem with digital FX at all. Not really into the multi fx thing as I like mixing analog and digital and specific other stuff, but units like the m5 and HX one are awesome for a swiss army knife spot on the board.


Nothing against amp modelling but its not for me. I'll play tube amps til the day I die

 

[László]

Always Old and Analog ..resistance isn't futile it goes with capacitance to make beautiful tone! TUBE BE for ME !

Nothing against amp modelling but its not for me. I'll play tube amps til the day I die

I'm with these guys.

I will, however, say that running digital effects through a tube amp can be a strong-sounding combination, especially time-based and modulation effects.

Now I love me some pedals, hate menu screens and am old enough that reading the text on a small screen 6 feet away from my face is almost as hard as bending down to get a better look.

This is the main reason I love my Eventide H9s. I find digital effects work best for time based effects like Ducked Delays (where the effect gets out of the way until a note is finished), and modulation effects.

I control them with a no-brainer app that runs on my phone, a computer or an iPad. I can tweak presets, a set list for a session, and change patches all with these devices. So sitting at my desk with a guitar on while recording, on an actual CHAIR, I can create a new patch in context of a mix while my pedalboard sits 15 feet away.

That's great. Not to mention MIDI, which is actually more difficult to program, but they have that as well.

I never have to bend down to tweak them. Hell, I can't crawl around to tweak anything with a guitar strapped on, because I can't freaking get up again - my knees simply won't do the work!!

As I understand it, Eventide have finally released the bluetooth app for the new H90, all of which reminds me that I could replace the two H9s on my board with one H90, since it's essentially two H9s with additional algorithms. On the other hand, I've got the patches I use already programmed in the H9s, and the thought of redoing that work makes me think...nah.

 

[dmatthews]

New toys are fun!
Welcome to the dark side, mwahahahahaha...

 

[Greywolf]

I'm ok with digi pedals , especially for modulation ....but for amps and gain I love the tube powered

 

[direwolf08]

If you like the M5, you’ll lose your mind for the HX Stomp…

As an aside, I gigged an M9 on my board for nearly 10 years… it was a great do-it-all pedal for anything I needed but didn’t have the space for, and I used it all the time, at every gig. Fantastic unit.

I just recently got an HX Stomp. Running in 4-cable mode as a multi-effects box for inserting effects before and after my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe IV's preamp. So, I don't need the amp and cab modeling blocks and I get to use the 8 slots just on effects! It is so much fun to tinker with and get it to make different sounds, and the HX Edit computer interface makes that tinkering fast and almost effortless. I can seriously lose hours messing around with it.

 

[RickP]

I guess I am a double-agent Jedi Knight... I truly love using both sides; my Fractal Audio gear and my tube amps. I wouldn't want to give up either, and I wouldn't be devastated if left with only one of the two options.

Long Live The Rebellious Empire!

 

[Bogner]

I Prefer Amps But I Can't Hate On The Digital Stuff As It Is Really Good. I Do Love My Kemper Stuff And If I Had To Survive On That Alone I Could But Let Me Be Very Clear Here...I Am Really Glad I Don't Have To.

 

[loocnmad]

I was a little unsure about the drive pedal models when I got an HX FX a few years ago but I’m pretty impressed. I’ve A/B’d them against the actual pedals for things like a Timmy/King of Tone/KTR and can get them pretty much indistinguishable. Sure, the knob positions will be a little different but nothing more than you’d have from component tolerances.

The legacy Fuzz Face into the current KTR in front of an edge of dirty amp is a killer tone. Especially if you can have some analog or tape delay in the loop.

 

[WingerRules]

This is the main reason I love my Eventide H9s. I find digital effects work best for time based effects like Ducked Delays (where the effect gets out of the way until a note is finished), and modulation effects.

This feature is invaluable, IMO, on delays, verbs, chorus and other time based effects. The Atomic Amplifire devices have this feature on reverb, delay, chorus, etc. and it's uncanny how much better it is when you want some effects on your tone. Especially when playing fast, you don't lose notes in a wash of verb, delay or chorus. The notes punch right through, THEN you get the effects. It's addictive and makes you wish there was a way to do it with your tube amps and pedals.

 

[DISTORT6]

Even when I’m playing an acoustic, it’s the dark side.

 

[Maxime Bousquet]

For a pure and authentic sound the tubes will always be forward but the digital is fantastic now!
I got an AXE FX 3 and the possibilities and the audio quality is so good!

 

[László]

The notes punch right through, THEN you get the effects. It's addictive and makes you wish there was a way to do it with your tube amps and pedals.

It can of course be done in the analog domain with any effects pedals. And the process was invented long before digital gear existed.

You just side-chain a gate to duck the effect when the note plays. That's what these digital devices are doing. It's pretty simple.

I don't know why you'd want to eliminate the amp's overdrive and tone when a note plays. Seems to me that's when you'd WANT to hear what the amp is doing with the signal, as opposed to the effects.

However, amplifier tremolo acts as kind of a gate, by varying the amplitude of the signal.

 

[FragileThunder]

I'm ok with digi pedals , especially for modulation ....but for amps and gain I love the tube powered

In the end, I don’t see myself getting away from the tube amp so the amp modeling side has yet to entice me. But a single digital board for the effects chain seems like something I *might* eventually find as an acceptable solution.

 

[WingerRules]

I don't know why you'd want to eliminate the amp's overdrive and tone when a note plays. Seems to me that's when you'd WANT to hear what the amp is doing with the signal, as opposed to the effects.

That’s not what I meant. I meant a good way to do it with the tube amp and pedals rig. There are only a few things I’d want ducked.

And yes, you could side chain a gate, but that’s much more common in a recording setup when adding effects at the board than on an analog pedal board. Interesting, but I don’t recall seeing a pedal board set up that way before. Have you seen it in use that way?

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I love any and all sound mangling objects, they’re all relevant and exciting.

 

[RobRiggs]

It takes at least 100w of tube goodness to annoy the neighbors.